From Pine View Farm

Author's archive

QOTD 0

T. E. Lawrence:

To have news value is to have a tin can tied to one’s tail.

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A Tune for the Times 0

(Warning: Short commercial at about the two-minute mark.)

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The Chaos Agent 0

Thom Hartman asks a question which, I fear, is far from hypothetical in these Trumpled times::

If you or I were hired by Vladimir Putin, an angry group of billionaires who want to end democracy, or a wealthy serial killer, and our orders were to tear our country apart and make us vulnerable to foreign takeover, what would we do? What steps would we take?

Follow the link for his answer.

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The Feckless Driver 0

Mountain road with an exit labeled

Click to view the original image.

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The Emoluments Ballroom 0

Farron follows the money.

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The Rule of Lawless 0

Title:  The Big Shtick.  Image:  Donald Trump wades through water towing a naval vessel and threatening fishermen with a club labeled,

Click for the original image.

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American Stasi 0

A federal judge calls out the head of the Trump administration’s military occupation of presence in Chicago for lying in court.

Detail at the link.

And, more news of the American Stasi . . . .

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He Abused His Right to Chews 0

Florida Man.

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QOTD 0

Robert Benchley:

There seems to be no lengths to which humorless people will not go to analyze humor. It seems to worry them.

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A Tune for the Times 0

From the Youtube page:

Step into The Great Fatsby — a Cole Porter–style musical romp through Trump’s gilded Gatsby fantasy, where greed glitters, democracy wilts, and everyone’s in on the grift. Champagne, chaos, and Cole Porter rhythm collide in this Jazz Age fever dream.

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Foxy Shady 0

Fox News falls for racist AI slop.

Why am I not surprised that Fox went for this like a dog for a milk bone?

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Another “responsible gun owner” shoots first, gets questioned later.

Officers said they arrived they found a woman, who had been shot, and a man on the front porch of a home.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said it was later determined that the people attempting to enter the home were members of a cleaning crew who mistakenly arrived at the wrong address.

Musical NotesGuns and stupid, guns and stupid.
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you brother,
You can’t have one without the other.

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This New Gilded Age 0

Aside:

I’m with Thom about watching election returns on television.

I’m quite happy to read about them the next morning.

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How Stuff Works: the Disinformation Superhighway 0

Rat (typing):  The reason the Fall is called that is because it was a nice autumn day wne Adam and Eve ate the apple and fell from grace.  Goat:  That's not true.  Rat:  Oh, I know, but now that I've posted it on the internet, millions of people with cite is as fact and no one will know what the truth is.  Goat (later, to Pig):  The internet was a mistake.

Click to view the original image.

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The Rule of Lawless 0

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gene Collier finds Doanld Trump’s SNAP decisions somewhat–er–disquieting. Here’s a tiny bit from his article.

“SNAP BENEFITS … will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT.”

Thus the president defies multiple court orders to feed hungry children, or am I oversimplifying?

You have to wonder at this point why the administration even bothers to retain lawyers, to go into courts, to file briefs, to meet deadlines. Under Trump, Trump is the law. Any legal judgment not in his favor is simply ignored.

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Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Your BFF? Don’t bet on it, per Heather Lench, who notes that

  • AI can now convincingly create or alter emotional expressions.
  • People rely on emotional expressions to determine what is important and how to behave.
  • Chatbots allow people to create personal echo chambers where AI is appreciative and positive.
  • Emotions expressed by avatars can be altered to deceive others.

Follow the link for a detail exploration of each point.

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QOTD 0

Jerome Bruner:

Education must be not only a transmission of culture but also a provider of alternative views of the world and a strengthener of the will to explore them.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Devolution 0

Ronald Reagan says,

Click to view the original image.

Aside:

Not that I have ever been fan of “Reagonomics.” Reagan’s embrace of the Laffable Curve, aka “Trickle-On Economics,” has done much to contribute to the erosion of the middle class, but, as regards tariffs, he got it right.

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The Hunger Gamers 0

Farron comments on the Trump maladministration’s mean for the sake of mean.

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From Pine View Farm
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